The film Searching follows a desperate father, David Kim (John Cho), who is frantically looking for his daughter Margot who has gone missing. He is helped by the determined Detective Vick (Debra Messing) who seems to be on his side the entire time and trying her best to find Margot, but all might not be what it seems.
Like every good thriller should, on rewatch of the 2018 thriller there are moments that have more significance after learning the ending plot twists of the film. Here are some of the details in Searching that give away the twist ending of the film.
Detective Vick's Facebook Page
David Kim does a search on Detective Vick after hearing that she will be the lead on Margot's case and he lingers on her Facebook page for a moment.
Her profile picture is of her and her son and her header has the quote, "A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world." These two photos prove that Vick would do anything for her son Robert, including helping to cover-up a possible murder.
Detective Vick Lying For Her Son Before
In a late-night discussion between Vick and David, she tells him an anecdote about her son that is very telling once the viewer knows the final plot twist and Vick's involvement in Margot's disappearance.
Vick says that her son, Robert, once went around the neighborhood taking money for a charity that did not exist. When people figured out they were upset and wanted the money back, instead of making her son admit his wrongdoing she covered for him and he kept the money.
The "Killer" Was Showed Earlier With Vick
David Kim looks into Detective Vick right after he hears that she is the one who is going to head Margot's case. He finds a photo of her working with a group of rehabilitated felons and there's a man standing by her that shows up later in the film.
He shows up to admit to kidnapping and killing Margot and commits suicide right after the confession, all at the coercion of Detective Vick, which David connects, but the evidence is there for the audience to see early on in the thriller.
Vick Didn't Search Everywhere
Detective Vick crosses out two areas that she claims they won't search for Margot and gives a vague reason for why they won't search there. The film glosses over this, but on rewatch, this moment seems odd and the reason doesn't hold much weight.
After knowing the end of the film and Detective Vick's involvement in Margot's disappearance she crosses out these two areas because she knows that's where Margot's body would be found.
Detective Vick Asks David To Tell Her The Story
At the beginning of the film, Detective Vick calls David and asks him to tell her his entire story. He's upset and says that he already told the police everything he knew and isn't sure why he had to tell her again.
She says that she usually wants to hear the information first hand, which does make sense, but after knowing she is involved in a cover-up she instead probably wants to use that moment to steer David away from the truth any way she can.
Detective Vick Mentions The Lake
David calls Vick in a frenzy as he has figured out where Margot might have gone to and he's frantically driving there in the early hours in the morning.
The Detective calls him back and breathlessly asks if he's at the lake already, but the issue is that David hadn't mentioned a lake to her. This small forgettable moment shows that Vick knew exactly what David had figured out without being told.
Vick Covering For Fish 'N' Chips
David asks if the Fish 'N' Chips YouCast account had anything to do with Margot's disappearance because the user frequently watched Margot's videos on the site.
After watching the film the audience knows that her son Robert was Catfishing Margot and used the account to talk to her. The account also looks into when David is casting from Margot's account and then logs off when he sees it's her father.
Waiting For Vick's Call
David is upset when he finally gets to talk to Detective Vick and says he's been waiting for her call and has already told everything to another member of the Police. It's odd that it takes a while for Vick to reach out to him since the early moments of missing persons cases are crucial.
This is probably because Vick volunteered for the job instead of being assigned to it, and she doesn't want to solve the case anyway.
Vick Suggests David Look At Margot's Banking
Vick has set up the narrative that Margot has run away and sent money to a deactivated Venmo account that belonged to her son.
David might not have looked into this if Vick hadn't directed him there and the narrative of Margot running away wouldn't have made much sense without this detail planted earlier on in the twisted thriller.
Vick Finding Margot's Fake License
Vick claims that Margot created a fake license and withdrew the money because she was about to skip town. She says that their forensic team found it on a deleted photo somewhere and that a local forger claims to have met her and she got a license from him.
She's the only one that can confirm it and after watching the film once the viewer knows that Margot's fake license wasn't real and Vick created it to play into her narrative that Margot ran away.